Denis Villenueve seems to be trying to be Christopher Nolan so hard

Denis to me has always been a director with no unique vision or style of his own. He felt like nerdy student who obsessively watched other successful directors movie and steal from their work. He seems like a fake to me.

There is a difference between that kinda of director and someone like Tarantino or even Nolan when he says he used heat as inspiration. These directors are doing the impossible but Denis feels like he WANTS to be revered like James Cameron/ Nolan/ Tarantino/ Spielberg/ Scorsese so-bad. It all feels fake and try hard to me.

Villenueve is better than Nolan by....a lot.

Do you think the films 'Maelstrom', 'August 32nd on Earth, 'Incendies', 'Polytechnique' and 'Enemy' don't have any direction of their own and feel like they've been stolen from others?

If so, how?

Perhaps you have some specific examples, citing scenes that are lifted from another director, or something that is clearly stolen. What films does Incendies rip off?

How about Arrival? Which Nolan film subverts the genre it resides in so completely, while successfully pulling off Hitchcokian audience manipulation on a narrative level the way Arrival does?

Lastly, I would point out that you say Villeneuve seems like a "nerdy student who watched other successful directors movies and steal (sic) their work."

I mean, that pretty much exactly describes Tarantino, so that would make him bad and as you say, fake? His early films were pretty much entirely homage.

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didn't know this is a genuine opinion for some folks

to be honest he is no remembered for those....look at where he is going...he is not going incendies route. He is trying so hard to go the Chris Nolan route.

he copied from black hawk down in dune. BR 2049 is kinda a sequel to a movie someone else directed. Prisoners is such a try hard movie. Generic story and script but he wants to make it something greater when the story doesn't warrant it.

What Tarantino does is something unique. Yes he lifts from movies but what he is able to come up with is not any other director can emulate.

Again, please cite specific examples. How is Blade Runner 2049, which is a damned fine sequel, perhaps one of the best ever, to a film I once thought couldn't have a sequel that did it justice, derivative of something Nolan did? I mean, aside from sharing a genre with some of Nolan's works.

What's the Nolan analog for Sicario?

Incendiies is currently listed as his third highest ranked film on Rotten Tomatoes. Clearly, people know it exists and rank it highly, so why wouldn't he be known for it?

I like both directors, but I am not seeing the types of similarities in their catalogs that would suggest theft or imitation.

You have made a claim, but I am asking for you to make an argument that supports the claim.

Isn't Oppenheimer just about a person who was just boring and real?


Wasn't Batman just a sequel of sorts?


Isn't Interstellar just some try hard wannabe philosophy crap?


Wasn't The Prestige just copying Black Hawk Down?


Wow, debating movies is so much easier than I ever imagined.

So you're accusation that he has no vision of his own doesn't apply to these films (half of his filmography). What does it apply to? 1 film? Half a film? 10 minutes of Dune?

Nolan, though by no means a poor film-maker is literally a Kubrick acolyte.

Everything is binary these days. It's such a sickness. Instead of enjoying Nolan's films and praising them, people have to invent some sort of imaginary rivalry with another guy who now makes big blockbuster films, and debase him online.

Curses to the internet.

Also of the two film- makers, Nolan is the only one to have made a true remake.

'Vision' indeed.

Nolan is colorblind, fact..

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Yea, disagree here. While Prisoners deals with material that is clearly more realistic than some of his other films, I don't see it as generic or "try hard," whatever that means. It's his take on a crime thriller, and a damned good one, IMO. Fantastic performances across the board, an excellent script, and it leaves room for interpretation as to exactly how the ending plays out. Signs of a skilled and experienced filmmaker who is anything but a copycat or a hack. The film so affected my wife that she says she will can never watch it again because it haunted her for days.

Your statement here seems more of a random shot than an argument with solid backing. I guess I would ask what exactly constitutes a great film to you? Can a film about a realistic crime and its effects on those involved not be made into a great film? Or would it have to have a ton of auteur style of directorial flourishes to enter the "great' echelon? Serious question here, I am not being sarcastic.

What are some great films, in your opinion. In the crime thriller genre specifically.

Wait, just reading back - The Prestige copies Black Hawk Down???

Huh?

I'll take Villenueve over Nolan any day.

My expectation is that Denis Villeneuve> Nolan.

Although that depends on how good Dune part 2 ends up in finishing the plot of Dune 1.

I like Nolan quite a bit, but I prefer Villeneuve over him by a decent margin.

You should kick the shit out of him and teach him a lesson.

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